SBC Feud over Calvinism

On Wednesday Night -July 11th – we will be discussing the “SBC feud over Calvinism.” On June 19-20th, the Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in New Orleans. In one way, this convention was one of the most historic – the SBC unanimously elected its 1st Black President – Fred Luter, Pastor of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. But in other ways, the SBC continued it’s tradition of finding something to argue about.

Currently, the issue is Calvinism. The opposite position is Arminianism or Wesleyanism. The whole argument revolves around the doctrine of salvation. How does a person receive salvation? The Calvinist says people are saved by the grace of God alone – that God does the choosing – emphasizing the sovereignty of God. The Arminian believes that people are saved by grace – but that each person makes a choice about salvation – they emphasize the human freewill aspect of salvation. According to our SBC researchers – about 20% of S Bapt say they are Calvinists – about 20% say they are Arminian – 60% are clueless – and 35% of the total say they are concerned that Calvinism will have a negative impact on the SBC.

In order to help us determine how our church will deal with this debate – please respond to the following statement that is part of the Calvinist / Arminian issue:

Before the foundation of the world, God predestined some people to salvation and some to damnation.